Shed sale hits stormy waters

A millionaire former TV star, a famous Kiwi doctor and a renowned America's Cup yachtsman are all characters in a drama playing out over the sale of a colourful Auckland property.

Ray White agent Megan Jaffe is advertising Boatshed 20 on the water's edge of Ngapipi Rd, Orakei, for sale. It is one of 17 heritage-protected boatsheds on the eastern side of the Hobson Bay inlet.

Jaffe said it was to be auctioned on July 19, but noted that another of the boatsheds had sold recently for $300,000. The phone had "gone crazy" with inquiries.

"People say it's a bit of New Zealand history that they would love to secure," she said. "It's somewhere they can have a cup of tea with a spectacular view."

But no one can live there as Auckland Regional Council restricts use to storage, repair and boat maintenance.

Jaffe would not reveal who the owner was other than it was a "high-profile New Zealander" who bought the shed "a week ago" but now felt it was "surplus to requirements".

The Herald on Sunday can reveal the seller is Paul Webb, a star of Dragons' Den, the TV show that saw young business hopefuls pitch ideas to successful entrepreneurs. He was a former bankrupt behind the CityJet airline, which collapsed in 1999, but is since said to have remade a $20 million fortune.

Webb said he was focused on his "booming" coastal construction business, building pipelines in Australia. He said he only just bought the shed for his boat, but then realised, "I didn't need it and so I'm going to sell it".

But according to regional council records, the current holders of the shed's consent title are Dr David Mauger and Sam Denny. Mauger, an honorary consultant for Starship children's hospital, is famous for performing this country's first bone-marrow transplant and was made a distinguished companion in 2002. He asked how Webb could be selling the shed when "I still own it! It hasn't crossed hands yet".

He bought the shed in 2005 for $160,000 off sculptor Virginia King and her architect husband Mike King, but sold it last month as his marriage had broken down and property was being split.

Virginia King is a well-known artist who most recently made the news for being commissioned to create a $250,000 tribute to former Prime Minister David Lange.

Mauger said he agreed to sell the boatshed last month to Webb, one of four parties who contacted him within a day of putting a for sale sign on the shed. But the $150,000 sale had not yet gone through. Mauger said he took Webb "at face value" when he said he had wanted it for his jet ski.

Mauger now wishes he had sold it instead to Chris Dickson, of America's Cup fame, who had also lined up to buy it.

Webb said he had just saw number 20 for sale and "grabbed it" but had since changed his mind.

However, he said he would never sell Boatshed 15, where he loved to take his son to fish, have barbecues and kayak from.

NZ Multihull yacht club commodore and accountant Philip Hart said he sold shed 15 to Webb in 2005 for $180,000. He had bought it in 2001 for $70,000.

The 49-year-old commodore said when he bought the shed it was oily, greasy, on a lean and semi-collapsed and he "turned it into the coolest flat", where his band also used to practise.

But he sold it after the Auckland Regional Council started inspecting the sheds to make sure no one was living in them and caught him out "and chased me out". He said others also had lived there in "secret".